Back Home
by psychoticateddrebel
Summary: There was something strangely familiar about the beautiful bronze hair Adonis who walked into the cafeteria, only Bella couldn't seem to be able to quite place her finger on what it was. I suck at summaries, but please read!
1. Floating

**A/N: Hey guys! So this is my first fanfiction for the whole Twilight saga. **

_Disclaimer: I do not own Edward, Bella, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Carlisle, Charlie, Renee and all other Twilight stuffos. They belong to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer, unfortunately. Although, late at night, Edward visits me in my dreams... *wriggles eyebrows suggestively*_

**Please R&R. May be discontinued, may actually be finished... depends on the amount of reviews I get. :P**

Bella POV

I have the same dream every night.

I must've been 4 or 5 at that time, and I'm in a crowded shopping mall, surrounded by towering knees and faceless people. There's always this overwhelming sense of panic as I spin helplessly around searching for my mother, but she's not anywhere. The only faces I see over and over again are the white plastered ones of the mannequins.

And then the helpless panic spills out in the form of tears. My tiny four year old hands will clutch at my stomach as I crumble into a heap on the mosaic tiles, the red and blue jarringly comforting, and my face embraces the coolness of the floor, only to be scooped up into the colder hands of my guardian angel.

"Are you lost, little girl?" his velvet voice will ask, and I'll just sob brokenly. And his eyes will look startled, his voice will take on a timbre of panic as he walks at a hurried pace towards something I cannot see, and then he'll ask, "what's your name?"

_"Bella."_ I'll reply, my sobs subsiding as he coos gently into my ear. And I stop. He's still walking, hurriedly, but I'm no longer crying, cause I feel safe. I know that this strange, beautiful man will take me back to my mother, and soon enough, I hear her voice.

"Bella?! BELLA! Where are you?!" Renee will yell, and I can hear her sigh of relief as the dream me laughs "here mummy", childishly. Then she'll snatch me out of the stranger's arm, check me over conspicuously, sighing with relief as she finds nothing wrong, before turning to the stranger and drowning him with profuse thank-yous.

And the dream always ends the same way, with me sitting snug in my mother's arms, waving to the beautiful, pale skinned stranger with the beautiful bronze hair.

My guardian angel.

EPOV

I let the music drown me as my fingers dance across the keyboards. I can hear Esme in the kitchen humming to herself, thinking quietly about Carlisle and worrying, as usual, about me. I cringe slightly at the sound of Emmett and Rosalie as they break in their new bed, and grimace as I quickly close my mind to theirs. I tune in once again to the melody, Esme's song, as my mind is consumed once again, by the face of a sobbing four-year old. My lips curl up involuntarily as I remember her beatific smile when I returned her to her mother, such a lovely, beautiful child...

Suddenly, I looked up, my fingers stuttering to a halt as my inner peace is broken by Alice's startled gasp. I pause, annoyed, as I tried to tune into her mind, only to be greeted by the greek alphabet being recited backwards. Growling lightly, I pushed myself off the bench intending to march upstairs to her room to confront her, but damn pixie, as usual, knew what I'd intended to do the moment I made my decision and raced down the stairs and out the front door.

"Come _on_ Edward!" She yelled, bursting with excitement as usual. I sighed heavily as the rest of my siblings sauntered out of the house, holding themselves with more decorum than the bouncing pixie.

Great. Another day of school. Another few mindless hours of torture.

Esme grins from the front porch steps and calls out to us to have a great day. Ha! As if! I snort internally, but flash her a grin. No need for her to know how much I detested going through the mundane routine of school. I slide into the front seat of the silver volvo, a present from Carlisle as a sort of consolation for having to move back to Forks, and I pulled out of the driveway, speeding to arrive to the butt ugly school on time.

Amazingly enough, Alice managed to dream up 18 new outfits in a span of 5 minutes. Jasper was smiling as he felt my amusement, I flashed him a grin, invading his mind a little, if only to be distracted from Emmett's. It was almost always when I was in the immediate vicinity as both him and Rose when I wished, desperately, that I didn't have my gift. Emmett was mentally undressing Rosalie and thinking up new positions. I cringed mentally. He'd just invented a whole new position! The Karma Sutra had nothing on them. Rosalie was, as usual, oblivious to anything but herself. She'd somehow managed to catch a glimpse of her reflection in her ring and was now admiring her face in the glittering emerald gem.

"Edward!" Alice screamed mentally.

"What?!" I snapped, peering at her expectantly.

"We're in school!" She grinned. That damn pixie! Then she hopped out dragging Jasper along by the collar, a mighty fine sight, if you were to ask me; a five foot two pixie dragging a six foot something boy. Indeed, Emmett found the sight just as amusing as I did cause he nearly caused an avalanche with his booming laugh.

"Will you keep it down Emmett?!" Rosalie hissed, tossing her blonde hair across her shoulders casually, she slid out of the car, one stiletto clad foot after the other before sashaying down the gravel path to school, Emmett following pathetically behind her. I grinned at the love sick puppy dod look he had in his eyes and scowled as the messed up, dirty thoughts of the male population invaded my mind. It was a good thing I was the one with the mind reading power and not Emmett. Good thing for those bozos at least.

I almost groaned with the sheer mundaneness of it all. School. My personal hell hole. I got out of the car slowly, making my way towards the faded entrance, I growl softly as Jessica Stanley's annoyingly bitchy voice pierces my mind at such an early time of the day. I glare at Alice as I allow myself to wallow in self-pity for a second, before standing straight and striding briskly past Jessica and her mindless entourage, only to be bombarded by images of me in various states of undress. Seriously. Have these girls no decency at all?! I immediately begin to search for a relief from the mindlessness of their teenage worries until...

_"Oh. My. God!"_

I cringe internally, keeping a mask of careful disinterest up.

_"Have you heard?! Isabella Swan is coming!" _

Who?!

I stare at Jessica, confused, only to realized my mistake a second too late. _"Oh my god! Edward Cullen just stared at me! ME!" _She screamed as I glanced down at the floor. _"Oh my god! He looked down at his feet! HE LIKES ME!!"_ She started doing a victory dance in her mind before wondering whether she should come over and talk to me.

Overhead, the bell rang. Thank God, I sighed in relief to myself, allowing a slight grin to mar my otherwise stony features. Saved by the bell, I almost sniggered, before making my way slowly to class. I quickly glanced around until I caught sight of Angela Weber three paces in front of me, hurrying slightly to catch up with her, I strained my mind a little to hear her quiet, unassuming thoughts. Here was a girl who was genuinely nice. I felt a momentary burning guilt as I realized how often I used Angela as a refuge from the mean, self-centered thoughts that screamed from the other girls. Angela thoughts were centered around her twin brothers, who were quite young, from what I understood. She was trying to think of an activity that would keep them occupied, entertained and out of trouble so that she would be able to finish up her English paper at home.

_"EDWARD!"_ Alice mentally screamed. I groaned. _"HURRY UP! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR ENGLISH!"_ Shut up Alice. I wanted to yell, but that would've been odd. Edward Cullen didn't yell. As far as the general student population was concerned, Edward Cullen didn't do anything other than simply exist. I sped up though, wanting to get to class on time so that there wasn't any excuse for Ms. Faulkner to give me detention. As I pushed forward, I accidentally brushed past Angela and I felt her cringe back a little. _"So cold."_ Was her immediate thought, I turned around and flashed her an apologetic smile and walked into class as the rest of her sentence crumbled into incoherence. I allowed myself a small smile as I marveled at the decency of some humans. Angela Weber truly was exceptionally kind, I finally allowed myself, as I thought back to the rest of her thoughts, _"I wonder if he's alright?"_

Yes, I smiled, there may be some hope for mankind after all. However, as Ms. Faulkner started the lesson, my thoughts immediately started wandering. Behind me, some kid named Chase was mentally tinkering with his bike. The rest of the class was buzzing with the news of Isabella Swan.

I sighed and stared at the hands on the clock, willing the hour hand to move one little pace. Groaning internally, I calculated the hours left before I could leave this hell hole and began composing a new song in my mind.

I hate school.


	2. Homecoming

BPOV

In the state of Washington, under a near constant cover of rain and clouds, lies the small town of Forks. And it's to this place where I am banishing myself to. I stared at my painfully plain reflection for one last time, looking around at the organized chaos that was my room and walked resolutely out the door.

My mother, Renee, stood on the porch with tears glistening in her eyes, silently begging me not to go. "You don't have to do this Bells!" she whispered brokenly, holding me tightly in her arms.

"I know mum, but I want to." I replied, hugging her back. My mother had recently just gotten remarried. Don't get me wrong, I liked Phil, but he plays minor league ball for a living, which means that he's gone most of the time, and as much as I love Phoenix and its bright sunshine, I just couldn't deny my mother the happiness that traveling with Phil was sure to bring her.

Besides, I reasoned. Renee has had me for the past 17 years, time to let Charlie have some time with Bella. I grinned involuntarily as I made myself sound like a Barbie doll.

"C'mon ladies! I love you both, but we gotta go!" Phil's booming voice called from within the cabin of the car. I smiled to reassure Renee, once again, that I would be fine, that this _was_ what I wanted and that everything would be alright. But despite the reassurances I was giving her, I couldn't help the knot of panic and dread the welled up in the pit of my stomach.

How was I going to survive Forks?

Sure. Charlie had been plenty excited when I'd called and informed him of my decision to move there, but excited was the furthest adjective available to describe my mood. Resigned would've been a better term.

_Stop it Bella! _I thought. _Let's be fair to Charlie. _

As we neared the airport, I hugged my mum again once, turned to Phil and muttered a quick goodbyebefore hurtling somewhat haphazardly past the flight attendant and into the plane.

_"Tell Charlie I said hi!"_ I heard her shout. I chanced a backward glance and a wave to show her that I'd heard and that I would. I wasn't too worried about Renee, at least not as worried as I would've been now that she had Phil. I knew that he would take care of my beautiful, scatter-brained, eccentric mother. And Charlie had seemed genuinely pleased that I was coming to live with him, but I knew that underneath that, he was just as confused as Renee about my decision to move to Forks, it wasn't a secret, I'd made my distaste of the small town with its rain plainly clear, putting my foot down and insisting that he come up to visit us in sunny Phoenix when I turned fourteen.

It was a four hour flight to Seattle, and I spent most of it staring aimlessly out the window, worrying mindlessly over little things. The flight I could handle, it was the car ride to Forks that bothered me. Charlie and I weren't exactly what people would call verbal and I was sure that the ride back would be awkward.

He was already waiting there for me when I walked out. Seeing me, he hurried forward to greet me with a hug and to proceed to take my bag. I didn't carry much, I'd already said goodbye to most of my wardrobe seeing as my shorts and sandals wouldn't serve much purpose in rain and cold. He didn't seem to notice though, so we walked in silence towards the police cruiser parked on the street. I almost didn't slip this time, almost, but not quite. Charlie grinned rather affectionately as his hand shot out in a reflex to catch me before I fell. "It's good to see you again Bells." He smiled, as I mumbled a thank you.

"Good to see you again too, Dad." I wasn't allowed to call him Charlie to his face. "Mum says 'hi.'" I mumbled as I climbed into the car, trying to fill up the heavy silence.

"How is she doing?" He asks after a moment's deliberation. He still loved her. That much, I knew, from the way he didn't change anything about the house after she left.

"She's doing fine. Phil treats her great." I look out the window. He's trying to fill up the silence as much as I am. We weren't the best conversationalists, but we were trying. I almost smiled at that. Almost.

"I found a good car for you, really cheap." He says as we pull out of the airport. My eyes narrow instinctively, I didn't miss the way he said "for you".

"What kind of car?" I ask suspiciously.

"Well. It's a truck actually, a chevy. Good and sturdy, a little old though. It used to belong to Billy Black. You remember Billy, don't you?" He was rambling. I stare at him before blushing and mumbling a no, not really. "We used to go fishing together. You used to play with his kids?"

Ah. That explained why I remembered so little of Billy. I was really good at repressing bad memories, and fishing was definitely something I classed under monster nightmares. To say that I was averse to sports would be the understatement of the century. I didn't hate it, no. It hated me. I never really did figure out what I'd done to turn gravity against me so. Thankfully though, Charlie left me to my own thoughts for the rest of the journey. Sometime before we entered the green planet that was Forks, the awkward silence had transformed into a comfortable one. I allowed myself one little ray of sunshine.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

And as we pulled into the driveway of our house, I took it as a good sign as I drank in the sight of a faded red truck sitting in the driveway. I gasped. "Is that for me?"

"Happy homecoming present Bella." I vaguely heard Charlie mutter embarrassedly from my side.

**A/N: So this chapter is gonna end this way... Until next chapter. And this is where the story starts getting good (I hope). A little spoiler: BELLA GETS TO MEET EDWARD! :P**


	3. High

BPOV

I groaned as I tossed from side to side. The constant pattering of raindrops against the rooftop was an alien sound to me and I was getting frustrated. It was too cold, and the alien sounds were too loud. Getting up, I pattered down the hallway to the cupboard that stood beside the bathroom and grabbed an extra blanket. Then I returned to my room and grabbed my CD player from off my desk and groped around in the dark mindlessly for a random CD to insert. I then pressed 'play' and plugged my ears and allowed the music to drown the sounds of the raindrops. It was a CD that Phil had given me for Christmas, a band I normally wouldn't listen to. Something with Park in its name. But the loud drums were definitely a welcomed distraction from the pattering raindrops and before I knew it, I was sound asleep.

I dreamed of him again, like I did every night. The beautiful bronze-haired stranger. My eyes shot open as my heart started thumping wildly from the loud 'thud!' that woke me up. Glancing around, I quickly realized that the 'thud' I heard was from the CD player tumbling off the bedside table and onto the floor, no doubt due to my tossing and turning in bed. I wasn't the quietest of sleepers. It seemed that my lack of verbal skills when I was awake, was more than made up for when I was asleep. Renee often made fun of me for that.

I glanced at the clock and groaned. No point going back to bed if I had to wake up in half an hour. I grimaced at the prospect of having to leave the warmth of my bed, but braced myself all the same, for the harsh cold that would greet me as I stumbled blearily into the bathroom to get ready for school.

School, I almost sigh. It's March, the middle of the semester. I wasn't looking forward to waltzing into Forks High School, especially since, in a town this small, all the other kids were sure to have been friends for forever. I stood in front of the mirror a little longer than usual this morning. I was nervous, afraid, scared.

Forks High had a grand total of 358 students now that I was joining, and that tiny number scared me. Back in Phoenix, there had been over 700 people in my junior class alone.

But I knew it wasn't just the small number that frightened me. It was more of the fact that I would be the new girl from the city, the freak, and more or less the fact that dozens of curious eyes would no doubt be observing my every move, scrutinizing me. Maybe if I'd looked like a girl from Phoenix, it might be alright, but physically, I'd never really fit in there. Whilst everyone else was tanned, blond and sporty, I'd always remained painfully pale, with a skin that burned rather than tanned.

I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Deciding than that I wouldn't wallow in self pity any longer, I stepped into the shower, letting the soothing scent of my strawberry shampoo waft away all my insecurities. The pounding hot water on my back helped too.

After a few more minutes, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel tight around me, trapping the remaining warmth and then padded gently down the hall towards my room. I threw on a pair of skinny denims and a really thick sweater before pulling on my well-worn all stars. The smell of jasmine that lingered on the sweater soothed me, it was my mother's scent. I fought back the tears that were threatening to spill over.

_Focus Bella,_ I told myself as I walked into the kitchen. Charlie was gone, he'd left a note taped to the refrigerator. I downed a bowl of cereal, grabbed my backpack and my coat before heading out the door and into the truck. My truck. It started with a ear-splitting roar that was oddly comforting.

I rumbled down the highway and almost missed the obscure sign that said "Forks High School". I was feeling out of my element. Nothing about Forks High suggested that it was a school. There was no intentionally dull, uninspiring building. There were no metal detectors, no sprawling grounds and no track field.

I parked in front of the first building. There was a small sign above the door that said 'Office', so I assumed that being new and all, going in there was the right thing to do.

I ran through the cold, focusing solely on getting to the warmth without tripping. Surprisingly, I made it to the entrance. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and immediately walked towards the woman with the purple t-shirt.

She looked up immediately. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Isabella Swan?" I half asked her, and saw from the way awareness lit up her eyes that my worst suspicions had been confirmed. She knew who I was, as did the rest of the town. The Chief's daughter come home.

"Of course," she said as she rifled through the pile of papers on her desk. "Here you go dear, your schedule and a map of the school." She began to trace out the most direct paths to classes and then she handed me a slip. "Get all your teachers to sign this and then return it here at the end of the day." I nodded to show her I understood. "Have a nice day!" She called as I walked away, I smiled back as convincingly as I could.

I got into my truck and drove into the main parking lot of the school. I was glad to see that my truck wouldn't stand out at all, in fact, it was the shiny volvo in the lot that stood out. I parked and slid carefully out of the truck, making sure that my feet were firmly planted on the ground, I pulled my backpack out and held the map and schedule in front of my face, desperately trying to memorize it so I wouldn't draw any more attention to the fact that I was the new kid.

The classroom was small and as I glanced around, I noticed that everyone around had pale skin, so I wouldn't stand out too much. I sighed in relief and copied the two girls in front of me by taking off my coat and hanging it on the row of hooks available on the wall. Then I made my way towards the English teacher, Mr. Mason, I believe, and handed him my slip to sign. He didn't ask me to stand up and introduce myself, so I decided I kind of liked him, that was until he handed me the list of books that we would be doing this year. I nearly groaned when I read it. Chaucer, Faulkner, Bronte... They were all fairly basic, stuff that I'd done last year.

The seconds dragged on until finally, the lesson ended. I stood up quickly, only to be greeted by a whiny, nasally voice.

"Hi! You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" I look up and find a gangly, pimply, black haired boy leaning across my desk. He looked like the overly helpful, chess club type, and it didn't help that he had an expectant look on his face either.

"Bella." I corrected automatically. Almost everyone turned to look at us. I flushed.

"Well. I'm Eric Yorkie!" He replied, smiling. "What's your next class? Maybe I could show you there!" Yep. Definitely over helpful. But since I was new here, I wasn't complaining. I needed all the help I could get.

"Thanks," I mumbled, grabbing my jacket and making my way over to building 4.

"So. It's a lot different from Phoenix huh?" He asked. Like you have no idea, I wanted to snort.

"Very."

"It doesn't rain very much there does it?"

"Nope." OK. So I should've been putting in more effort.

"Wow. What must that be like?" He wondered. I wanted to stare at him, was this kid for real?

"Sunny."

"You don't look very tan." At this, I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes.

"My mother is part albino." I joked. He didn't get it. I sighed. Obviously rain and comedy couldn't exist in harmony. Eric walked me to the door that was clearly marked Trigonometry.

"Well, here we are." No shit. I bit my tongue. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together!" I smiled at him vaguely and walked into the room.

Mr. Varner made me stand up and introduce myself. I decided right then that I hated him, and it wasn't just because of the lesson he taught. In true Bella fashion, I stammered, blushed and stumbled. It wasn't very pretty, but did I honestly expect any better? The rest of my morning passed more or less like that. The faces were starting to blend into each other, but I realized several of them repeated. In each of my classes, there was always someone like Eric who asked me questions, mostly about how I was liking Forks. I tried to be nice, really putting in the effort. I mostly just said that it was different.

Finally, lunch time came. This girl with really big hair walked down the hall with me to the cafeteria. I couldn't really remember her name, only that she sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish. She was shorter than me, but her incredible hair really made up for our height difference. I smiled and nodded as she regaled me with stories and gossip. I didn't try to keep up as she dragged me to a table full of her friends. I forgot all their names as soon as she introduced them to me.

Eric waved to me from across the room.

It was as I sat there amidst the curious stares and awkward conversation that I first caught sight of them. They were sitting in a corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible. There were five of them, and they weren't talking. Their trays of food remained on the table in front of them, untouched. It was like edible art. But what struck me most about them was their incredible beauty. They were all incredibly pale, paler than even I was and that said something.

There were two girls and three boys. There was this incredibly gorgeous blond girl who looked as though she belonged on the Victoria's Secret Angels runway instead of in Forks. Her friend was the complete opposite of her, short, with spiky black hair. Then there were the guys. There was this incredibly huge, muscled guy with dark, curly hair. Then there was this taller, leaner, but still muscular blonde guy. But it was _him_ who caught my attention most. The last of the three boys. He looked younger than the lot of them, and had the most beautiful, exquisite face I'd ever seen.

"Who are _they_?" I asked the girl with the incredible hair. And as she looked up to see who I meant, he suddenly looked at her. The last one. He looked at her for a fraction of a second, and then glanced at me. Almost immediately, I flushed and dropped my gaze, but in that brief moment, I felt my heart thud. There was something so familiar about him that I couldn't quite place.

The beautiful boy with the bronze colored hair.

"That's Edward and Emmett Cullen." She giggled, "and that's Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They're twins." suddenly, the black haired girl stood up and dumped her tray gracefully into the bin. I almost sighed with envy, wishing I had half of her coordination. She moved with the practiced grace of a dancer. "The one who left is Alice Cullen. They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." she whispered. I suddenly remembered that her name was Jessica.

"They're very... nice looking." I flushed as Jessica gave me a knowing giggle.

"Yes!" She agreed vehemently, "They're all together though. Like together, together!" She whispered, her voice containing shock and malice. "They're Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's adopted kids. They're foster children!"

I frowned at Jessica's tone. I glanced towards their table involuntarily again. They continued staring blankly at walls.

"Have they always lived in Forks?" I murmured, trying to place why _he _looked so familiar.

"No. They moved down here two years ago, from somewhere in Alaska."

For some inexplicable reason, I felt a tiny surge of relief. I glanced up again and caught _his_ eye. He was staring at me, but not in the gawking manner that I'd received all day. His was slightly frustrated. I flushed and looked down again. Jessica noticed.

"That's Edward." She said, a snooty timbre coloring her voice. "He's gorgeous, duh, but don't waste your time. Apparently no one here is good enough for him." She sniffed. I bit my lips to hide a smile that was threatening to show. As I glanced at him again, I noticed that his face was turned away, but he appeared to be hiding a grin as well.

Overhead, the bell rang. I stood up with the rest of the people at the table and made my way out of the cafeteria. I had Biology next, and I walked happily down the hallway with Angela. She and I had more in common than I had with Jessica. She was shy too. As we entered the classroom, she immediately moved to the back of the room to the seat where she'd been assigned. I walked to the front and handed Mr. Banner the slip and to introduce myself.

"Ah. Ms. Swan... yes. Well, I'm afraid there's only one remaining seat left," He pointed. I turned to look. "Next to Mr. Cullen."

Great, I thought, shivering slightly as a gust of wind blew in through the front door. Suddenly, I saw Edward Cullen tense in his seat.

**A/N: OK. So I don't really like this chapter. I think it's too long winded? But... Anyways. This is the pivotal point. I borrowed heavily from the original Twilight book for this chapter. I don't like it, but this is the part where it HAS to be like the book. Once Chapter 4 is up, the rest will be original. Seriously. I hope this isn't plagiarism though... In any case, I don't own Twilight or any part of it. That belongs to Mrs. Stephenie Meyer.**


	4. Biology

_Suddenly, I saw Edward Cullen tense in his seat._

___________________

EPOV

I stared resolutely at the blank wall before me, focusing solely on the melody flowing through my head, imagining patterns that didn't exist within the cracks. It was the only way I knew to tune out the voices that buzzed inside my head.

Most of the voices I ignored out of boredom. Only the four voices of my family did I block out of courtesy. But since they were used to the lack of privacy around me, they hardly really gave it much thought. Rosalie was staring at her reflection in the window, and as usual, her thoughts centered around herself.

Emmett was fuming over the wrestling match that he'd lost to Jasper, then flickering over to Rosalie's perfection.

Jasper was in pain as usual. He was much, much newer to the vegetarian lifestyle than we were, and he was trying his hardest to suppress the natural urges. I suppressed a sigh.

I stared at the wall again. _Edward_, I heard Alice call out. _How is he holding up?_ Of course she was referring to Jasper. I frowned slightly, Alice was alarmed. _Is there any danger?_ She immediately started scanning the future, her mind was a meaningless blur for a while. I shook my head imperceptibly.

She relaxed.

_Edward Cullen._

I turned involuntarily as my name was called. I knew that voice. It was Jessica Stanley's. I glanced up, and there she was. The Chief's daughter. Isabella Swan, _Bella_, as she'd corrected countless people that day.

I stared at her for a second, before turning away, wondering what all the hype about her was. She was just an ordinary human girl. I'd seen her face repeated over and over in every thought, from every angle possible. Half the male population here had already fancied themselves in love with her because she was new. _Just a shiny new toy_, I scoffed.

_Of course she's asking about the Cullens._ I heard Jessica mock in her mind. _Oh look at her. Staring at Edward Cullen. As if she'd stand a chance!_ I looked up again and caught her eye. I frowned. There were no thoughts coming from Isabella Swan. No thoughts at all. Beside me, I felt Alice stand up. _"That's Edward."_ I heard her snooty voice across the chatter of the cafeteria. _"He's gorgeous, duh. But don't waste your time. Apparently no one here is good enough for him." And especially not you._ She mentally finished. I had to turn to hide a smile. Jessica Stanley was just so predictable. For some reason though, I felt this inexplicable urge to protect Isabella from girls like Jessica. I frowned.

I glanced towards her again. She was biting her lips and the color that rose to her face was stunning. I suddenly found myself wanting to know what she was thinking, but there was nothing but silence from the girl.

I stood up abruptly with the rest of my family. Dumping the tray in the bin as I walked out. Was there something wrong with my power? Was it fading? I wondered a little worriedly. Did powers fade over time? It was something I'd have to discuss with Carlisle tonight. I pushed the matter resolutely out of my mind as I weaved through the throng of students to get to Biology class.

I sat down at my usual spot, staring blankly out the window. There wasn't anything here that they could teach me that I didn't already know. I stifled a sigh.

High school.

It was the only time of the day I wished I could sleep. Purgatory was probably the right word. I mentally grimaced. My own personal hell. At that moment, a whole horde of thoughts centering around Bella Swan screamed at me. Mike Newton's elated yell especially broke through my barrier of meaningless background music. _YEEEEES! The gods must LOOOOVE ME! Bella Swan is in my class! I hope she seats next to me. Wait... someone else is already seating there. But maybe Mr. Banner could change the seats around?_

I tuned the rest of his babble out. _"Ah. Ms. Swan... yes. Well, I'm afraid there's only one remaining seat left," _I looked up as Mr. Banner pointed to the seat next o me. Suddenly, a gust of wind that blew through the front door blasted me with the most heavenly smell in the world. It was delicious. I felt the venom pool in my mouth as I tensed in my seat. In all my 80 years of vampirism, I had never imagined such a sweet scent to exist.

The monster within me was roaring to be let out. The thirst in my throat flared.

As she settled down, she tossed her mahogany locks across her shoulders, sending another wave of that tantalizing scent into my face.

I was suddenly imagining a multitude of ways to kill her.

I could have her right then and now. It wouldn't be too hard to just reach over and grab her, snap her neck and drink that delicious nectar. _But what about the other students in the class?_ I began to mentally calculate how long it would take for me to snap all their necks.

In my mind, the rest of the class, _witnesses_, were already collateral damage.

Suddenly, I was no longer just Edward Cullen. I was a vampire. And she was my prey.

I turned to face the girl. She stared at me with wide, startled chocolate colored eyes. My hand gripped harder on the wooden desk. Her brown eyes were large, expressive. I read fear within them. Suddenly, someone slammed a file on the table, sending a waft of clean, unscented air towards me, allowing my head to clear for a moment. I gulped and held my breath.

I looked away in revulsion. Leaning as far away from her as humanly possible.

I thought of Carlisle. Of Esme. Of the rest of my family. Carlisle would be disappointed if he could read my mind. I thought of Esme's face. The kind glances and compassion that they had instilled within me, and I was torn. Torn between allowing my natural instincts to kick in, take what I wanted and destroy my family, _and a whole town_, a voice that sounded sneakingly like Carlisle's whispered in my mind.

_No._

The thirst burned in my throat. I had been wrong. High School wasn't purgatory. This, sitting next to Isabella Swan for the next hour was.

I felt inexplicable anger and loathing towards the new girl who just decided to waltz into my life and disrupt everything. I loathed her. This girl who had managed to snap all my self control. In a span of a few short minutes, she'd managed to crack the human facade that had taken me years to painstakingly build up.

The red eyed monster within me roared to be let out.

_No._ I repeated again, as Carlisle's face swam within my mind. I couldn't allow such an aggravating creature to ruin me. To ruin my family. I didn't want to be a murderer! I didn't... Wouldn't lose everything that I'd gained in my lifetime of denial because of this frail human.

I wouldn't!

Why did _I_ have to lose everything just because she chose this unlikely town to appear in? Why _had_ she come here?!

The monster within growled.

BPOV

I felt a blush color my cheeks.  
Perfect. I thought as I glanced away from Edward Cullen. Five seconds here and he already hates me. Could today get any better?

I glanced down. From the corner of my eye, I could see his already white knuckles turn whiter. Wait! Should he be that white? I wondered as I made the mistake of glancing up. My eyes opened wide as the deepest look of loathing was thrown my way. Suddenly, his face snapped away from mine, but not before I noticed the look of revulsion that crossed his face. Surreptitiously, I sniffed my hair, then my clothes, wondering if it was my smell that he was repulsed by. Nope. I smelt the same as always. Strawberry, and the scent of jasmine from my sweater.

I faced down again, letting my hair fall around my face. As I did so, his grip on the table tightened.


	5. Coping

BPOV

He stood up as soon as the bell rang, making his way out of the room as quickly as possible. I stood up too, stretching slightly to ease the tension that had built up within my shoulders and neck throughout the awkward lesson. He didn't speak to me once, only sat as far away from me as possible.

I glanced up. In front of me stood a tall, boyish-looking guy with spiked blonde hair. "Hi. I'm Mike," he grinned. I smiled back. "You're Isabella right?"

"Bella." I corrected automatically.

""Cool. What's up with Cullen? Did you stab him with a pencil or something?" He joked. I grimaced. Apparently I hadn't been the only one to notice his strange behavior and apparently this wasn't normal for him either. Mike didn't notice the change in my expression. "If I'd been lucky enough to sit next to you, I'd have spoken to you."

_Smooth Mike. Real smooth_. I stifled the urge to roll my eyes.

"So what do you have next?"

"Erm... Gym." I groaned internally. Great. In Phoenix, Gym was a personal choice after sophomore year. In Forks, it seemed that Gym was a prerequisite.

"Cool!" Mike grinned. "I've got Gym next too!" _Seriously? Oh the joy. _I smiled as Mike led the way to the gym, keeping up a steady stream of babble. Luckily, all I had to do was nod and smile, Mike didn't seem to notice my lack of participation in the conversation. He didn't seem to notice my lack of interest either.

Thankfully, Mr. Bennett didn't make me change into P.E uniform today, although he did pass me a set, he allowed me to sit this lesson out. I spent the next fifty minutes or so wondering about Edward Cullen. _Edward_.

Who hated me.

I flinched involuntarily. How was I going to survive having to sit next to him for the next year? It was funny though. Their names. I couldn't help the way my mind wandered back and fourth and jumped so randomly. But their names, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice, _Edward_... They weren't exactly popular names now. And the way the were all adopted, but looked alike somehow... There was just something really off about them.

Like they were too beautiful to be human. I flushed. _Wow Bella... Two days here and you're already going mental..._

The bell rang signaling the end of the school day. I grabbed my backpack and was out the door before Mike could catch up to me. I shivered as the cold bit me the moment I stepped out of the building. Pulling my coat tighter around me, I made my way to the office building to return the slip to woman at the front desk. As I entered the room though, I immediately shrunk into the corner.

Standing there, dazzling the poor secretary, was Edward Cullen.

EPOV

I couldn't take it anymore. The moment Biology ended, I raced out of the building and hid in my car until I was sane enough. Which took a surprisingly long while, even with the soothing tones of Debussy playing. As soon as I was sane though, I headed for the office building, intending to change my schedule so that I didn't have Biology with _her_.

"Mrs. Cope?"

The woman with the red hair looked up and gasped, obviously startled. _Silly_, she thought as she smoothed her shirt. _He's too young. Young enough to be my son!_ "Hello Edward, what can I do for you?" Her eyelashes fluttered.

Uncomfortable would've been the understatement of the century. Her thoughts made me feel faintly ill. Here was a woman more than twice my age, well... Not literally, but figuratively speaking, I was kinda, sorta seventeen. _Frozen at seventeen, more like_ my inner voice scoffed. But that was beside the point. I leaned forward slightly, meeting her eyes. Her heart thudded faster.

"I was wondering if you could help me with my schedule?" I asked in a soft voice, the one reserved for not scaring humans.

"Of course Edward, how can I help you?" I cringed internally at her mental mantra, _"too young. Too young. Too young._

"I was wondering if I could move from my biology class to a senior level science? Physics, perhaps?"

"Is there a problem with Mr. Banner, Edward?"

"Not at all, it's just that I've already studied all this..." I let my voice trail off.

"In that accelerated school you went to?" Mrs. Cope pursed her lips as her mind worked. "Well Edward, Physics is pretty full right now. Mr. Banner hates having more than 25 students in a class..."

"I wouldn't be any trouble!" I interjected, feeling slightly panicked.

"I know that Edward, but there just isn't enough seats..."

I didn't let her finish. "Could I drop the class then? Use it for independant study?"

"Drop Biology?" Her mouth dropped open. "You won't have enough credits to graduate!"

"I could make up for it next year."

I heard the door to the office open and whoever it was shuffled over to the the corner.

"But there has to be something," Well. I could be charming when I wanted. "Please Mrs. Cope? Sixth hour Biology can't be the only option available..." I smiled, careful not to flash too much teeth, letting the expression soften my face.

Her heart drummed faster as the mantra in her mind grew louder.

"Oh, I'm so sorry dear," Mrs. Cope said, "maybe I could talk to Mr. Banner and see if I could - "

But a second was all it took to change everything. My body tensed up immediately as my purpose in the room was suddenly replaced by another.

In the second that it took for Samantha Wells to open the door and place the signed tardy slip into the basket by the door and hurry out again in her rush to be away from school and at the mall with her friends, that was all it took for a sudden gust of wind to blow that tantalizing scent in my direction.

I suddenly knew why I hadn't been interrupted by the first person's thoughts. I turned slowly, though I didn't need to look to confirm who it was. The thirst in my throat was burning, burning, burning and the monster within was clawing to be unleashed. I ground my teeth together and held my breath.

Bella Swan shrunk further into the corner as her large chocolate eyes drank in my ferocious, inhuman glare.

But it was too late. Every inch of the room had been saturated with her scent, and the memory of it was potent enough for the monster within to start calculating the second it would take for my hand to reach out and snap Mrs. Cope's neck before attacking Bella Swan. A trade. Two lives instead of the twenty in Biology. The monster within me smiled. It could live with that.

Just then, Carlisle's face swam into memory.

_NO!_ I yelled at it again. There had to be a choice. There always was one. And I refused to be a monster. I had spent too long and given up too much to just throw it all away for a second of gratification.

"Nevermind then," I mumbled, rushing through the words before my supply of air was used up. "I can see that it's impossible. Thanks so much for your help." Then, I spun and launched myself out of the room, fighting and repressing the urge to feel the warmth of the body I passed within inches of.

Once outside the building, I breathed a deep breath of clean, unpolluted air in. The burning thirst was still there. The memory of it was something I couldn't shake off. I walked quickly to the silver volvo in the carpark and as I slid into the car, I could hear Alice's worried thoughts, as well as Jasper's. Alice had probably seen so many of the would-be possible futures as my mind raced through the many different ways I could kill Bella Swan, and Jasper, was able to feel my tension, thirst and self-loathing.

"Go, Edward." Alice whispered as soon as we were on the highway. Her vision left me cold. Isabella Swan, dead on the kitchen floor, and Charlie Swan, broken.

I got out of the car and Alice slipped into the driver's seat. Another vision swirled through her mind. Bella Swan, happy. Laughing, carefree, a blush tinting her beautiful cheeks. And yet another, me in a place far away from Forks. I nodded. My other siblings looked confused, but just as Emmett was about to ask what was going on, Alice sped away.

I stood alone in the middle of the highway, on the edge of the forest, contemplating what to do. The first vision left me cold, but the monster within roared for it to come true. I couldn't do that though. I saw now, now that I was far away from _her_, the effects of me killing her. I would never be able to live with it. And it would kill Charlie Swan too. And the second vision, that left me breathless, and infinitely confused. There was an unnamed emotion that swirled through me as I recalled her blushing, smiling face. I did the only thing I could think of. I ran to Carlisle.

And when I said goodbye, he understood.

**A/N: I borrowed the office scene from Midnight Sun. The conversation he has with Mrs. Cope is basically more or less from Midnight Sun, almost word for word, but little parts have been changed. And the Samantha Wells character is also from midnight sun.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, yadayadayada, Mrs. Meyer does. **

**Please R&R! :D**


	6. Pride

BPOV

I had planned to confront him about it the next day, but he never showed up. And on Wednesday, another no show. By Friday, I was starting to get a little worried. What worried me was that… I was worried for his safety. This wasn't normal, I reasoned. You don't go about worrying about people who hate you just because they don't show up in school. I was bordering on the brink of insanity. Everyday when I walked into the cafeteria, my eyes would flicker immediately to the table in the corner of the room. And everyday, there would be exactly four, beautiful people sitting there. No Edward.

In Biology, I sat alone. Mike would often sit himself on the edge of my desk and talk to me. He followed me around the school like a lost puppy. It was a little annoying, and Jessica talked incessantly about anything and everything. I was lost, but I was settling into an almost mundane routine. As the bell rang, signalling the end of school for the week, I picked up my bag and followed Jessica to the parking lot.

"Hello?! Earth to Bella??" She yelled. I snapped out of my daze and faced her. She looked a little annoyed. Oops.

"Er. Sorry Jess, I zoned out for a minute." I smiled, in an effort to placate her, I asked, "what were you saying?"

She seemed miffed, but more than willing to continue talking about her plans for the weekend, which involved driving down to Port Angeles for a movie and shopping. I zoned out again, until I heard her ask, "So… You wanna go?"

"Oh. Erm. Shopping." I mumbled. No thanks, my mind screamed. Shopping malls had always scared me. The white mannequins and their eyeless eyes… It'd always freaked me out. And the huge throngs of people with the bags from all the stores… I shuddered. "Not this time Jess, sorry. I'm busy this weekend."

"Oh? With what?" She asked nosily. I froze. Oh crap.

"Erm. Charlie wants us to spend some time together." I managed to fib, blushing bright red as I looked to the side. I'd never been the best of liars, and due to some messed up gene, I blushed at practically everything. Thankfully though, she bought the lie and wrote off the blushing to me being embarrassed of admitting to spending time with my dad.

"Yea. That sucks." She murmured sympathetically. "So I'll see you next week k!" She grinned and hopped away to her car. I waved a bye and got into my truck, thankful for a quiet weekend.

The moment I got home, I made dinner for Charlie and walked upstairs to grab a book. Pride and Prejudice, perfect, I thought. Just as I got caught up in the relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, I heard a car door slam shut. Charlie must be home, I thought as I shot out of bed.

And sure enough, I soon heard Charlie yell, "I'm home Bells!" before proceeding to the living room to turn on the TV. I walked carefully down the steps and mumbled hi, dad. He looked up once and smiled. "What's for dinner?"

"Erm. I hope you don't mind, I made lasagna." He looked a little apprehensive, and with good reason too, I thought, if he was judging my cooking skills on Renee's. My mother was the most inventive cook, but let's just say her creativity ended in the concoction of the food. The actual edibility of it was a whole other story. But being the good father that he was, Charlie still walked into the kitchen with me, still sat down at the table and waited patiently as I served the lasagna on two plates. And still being supportive, he said, "Smells good Bells." And took a tentative spoon.

I waited, internally biting my nails, until a sudden grin spread across his face and he dug in with vigour. I smiled.

"So what are you doing this weekend?" Charlie asked between mouths.

"Er. Nothing much, just hang about and read." Suddenly Charlie froze and blushed.

"Oh erm. Bells, you weren't thinking that we could spend time together did you?" I blanched. What? Where had he gotten that idea from?

"Er. No dad." I grimaced. "Seriously. I'm fine just reading. There are some books I wanna catch up on anyways." Well… Technically that was a lie. All the books I'd brought from home were my favourites. Mostly classics, but they were all well-worn and well-read.

"OK." Charlie's stance relaxed. "I'm going fishing with Harry and the boys tomorrow morning." And then, almost as an after thought, he added. "Would you like to come?" I snorted.

"Seriously dad? Fishing? ME?" Even Charlie had to chuckle at that one.

"Guess not Kiddo."

After dinner, I washed up and muttered good night to Charlie as I passed the living room. Then I started up the ancient computer sitting on my desk. Instead of sitting around and waiting for the Internet to connect, which would take a long time, I decided to take a shower. As the hot water pounded away at my skin, I allowed everything that had happened to enter my mind. I'd moved to a new town, started a new life, made new friends, and also, enemies… I felt overwhelmed.

Moving to Forks hadn't been a major decision. It wasn't like I'd really had to leave behind a lot. I hadn't been very social back in Phoenix, hadn't really fitted in anywhere, so coming to Forks, making some friends had been a pleasant surprise. But it was the lack of sunshine here, the constant pattering of rain, the hatred and malice and dislike that emitted from Lauren and _Edward_ that really left me breathless. Even though I hadn't really fitted-in in Phoenix, I'd also never really stood out either, so I was more or less invisible, and I liked that just fine. Here though, I was like a sideshow attraction. Everyone knew my name, and it made me a little more than just uncomfortable. I sighed, and then decided to get out of the shower before I used up all the hot water.

I shivered as I slipped into my tattered T-shirt and sweats. Forks was too cold. I hadn't been warm since I arrived. Then I slid into the chair and patiently started closing all the advertisements that had popped up on the screen.

EPOV

I stared up at the star studded skies and saw the large, chocolate brown eyes. I sighed. It'd been four days since I'd ran away fromhome, and if I were perfectly honest with myself, _her_. But even though I was physically thousands of miles away from her, I couldn't stop my mind from wandering back to the way she looked. And as I sat on a rock, overlooking miles and miles of beautiful scenery, all I could think about was Isabella Swan. Bella. I grounded my teeth in frustration.

The monster within me reared a little, but for the most part, remained dormant. The memory of her scent frustrated me. A little part of my mind wondered if it had really been that tantalizing.

Carlisle had a theory about it. He called her my _singer_. "La Tua Catante" he'd said, as though it had been the most natural thing in the world. Then his mind had screamed, "go Edward. Do whatever you have to, just don't hurt her." as he passed me the car keys.

And I ran.

"Edward", I tensed as Tanya approached me.

"Hello Tanya," I replied as she sat down beside me. I frowned as her thoughts involuntarily entered my mind. She was hiding something from me. She was focusing solely on the stars, thinking about them too hard. Too focused. "What is it?" I asked, a little impatient.

She sighed, letting her thoughts flood me. I knew she wanted me. But she also knew the way I felt about her. I shook my head, no. She sighed again. I knew that I'd hurt her feelings. Tanya was a very proud vampire, and very beautiful too. But even though her and her coven were vegetarians like us, I'd never been attracted to her. Her strawberry blond hair had never appealed as much to me as mahogany locks. I snapped rigid for a second, shocked. Where had that thought come from? Then I relaxed as my thoughts went back to the little girl in the shopping mall. Her name had been Bella too. Suddenly, the synapses in my brain went a little crazy, almost as though it were playing connect-the-dots. I frowned. No. Bella Swan couldn't possibly be the same little girl that I'd saved in the mall all those years ago. For one, the little girl hadn't appealed to me at all. And blood didn't change scent over the years, of that I was sure. But that little niggling, doubt in my mind wouldn't go away.

"Edward," I heard Tanya sigh from beside me again. I looked up. "Why are you here, really?" I knew she had been hopeful when I arrived in Denali alone that I'd come to be her mate.

I froze then, unsure of what to tell her. She noticed my momentary hesitation and sighed mentally. "The least you could do, Edward, would be to tell me why you're really here." I didn't miss the icy tone that crept into her voice. Tanya was hurt, and she was hurt bad.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, feeling bad for toying with her expectations.

"Women troubles?" She finally said. I laughed bleakly.

"Not the way you mean it." As she ran through the different possible scenarios in her head, I barked another humourless laugh. "Not even close Tanya, just let it go."

"Not even a tiny, little hint?" She asked. I shook my head. She let it drop. "So where are you going to go? Back to Carlisle?"

I shrugged. I couldn't go back. I couldn't go back and risk hurting Isabella Swan, and in turn risk exposing my family. I couldn't go back to face Carlisle's disappointed face and Esme's worried glances. I just couldn't. And I wouldn't. "I don't know." I whispered. "I don't think so."

Suddenly, Tanya put her arms around me. I stiffened. "I think you will Edward, because that's just the kind of person you are. Running away… Just doesn't seem your style." I fell quiet for a moment. "I think you will go back and face whoever it is that's… haunting… you head on because that's just who you are." I felt comforted by her tone, and the fact that her thoughts were as sure as her words. She really believed in me. So did Carlisle, and Esme and the rest of my family.

I kissed her cheek quickly, pulling back almost immediately as she turned to face me, her lips already puckered. She smiled at me ruefully. "Thank you Tanya, I really needed to hear that." She stood up, dusted herself off and flashed me a grin. For a moment, I heard the hurt flash through her mind and I felt guilty.

"You're welcome Edward." She said petulantly, as she tried to desperately push her thoughts out of her mind. I smiled ruefully back.

"You know you're too good for me Tanya. I just… haven't found who I'm looking for yet." She nodded.

"I guess this is goodbye then, Edward." She smiled, standing at the edge of the rock.

"Goodbye Tanya." And as I said the words, I knew that this really was it. I could see myself going back to Forks, I could see myself suppressing the monster and making Esme happy. I could see Carlisle's proud face, and I could hear Alice's squeal. And at the back of my mind, Bella Swan's face, flushed pink and happy.

With a heavy sigh, I got up and ran back to Carlisle's car, suddenly in a hurry to get home to my family and be the Edward that faced things head on.

**A/N: YAY! Edward goes back to Forks!! :P okok. this is like twilight, i know. i know. but it's gonna veer off track soon. sometime in another... 2 more chapters I think, Bella will understand that it's Edward as her mind struggles to connect the dots. **

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. They belong to the lucky, lucky Stephenie Meyer who was fortunate enough to be able to dream of Edward Cullen.

**Please R&R! :D**


	7. Bella

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Mrs. Meyer does. Damn.**

**A/N: Let me just be the first to say, I DO NOT LIKE THIS CHAPTER!! But I just can't seem to get enthusiastic writing this fanfic anymore, cause cause cause *BAWLS* THERE'VE BEEN SO LITTLE REVIEWS!!  
Not that I'm ungrateful to the reviews I've gotten, it's just... it would make me a LOT happier if I got more. Yes, I am aware that I am whining, but still...**

**Anyways. I know it took a couple more days than usual to get this chapter up, but if you want to see the next one sooner, PLEASE REVIEW! I'll put the next chapter up, and I PROMISE it'll be longer and BETTER with some E&B action/drama (FINALLY) if I get 30 reviews! :D **

EPOV

Alice bounded out the door the moment I pulled up into the driveway and launched herself at me. "You're back! You're back!" she kept whispering and I smiled. Carlisle placed a hand on my shoulder as Esme ran out to hug me.

"Welcome home, son." He said in his mind. I grinned. I was home.

But that didn't stop the nagging doubt in my mind. What if I hurt Bella Swan? What if I slipped up? Jasper, sensing my discomfort immediately thought, 'you won't slip up.' I smiled at his mental assurance and nodded.

BPOV

I strolled into the cafeteria, mindlessly nodding my head as Jessica continued chattering from my side. I looked to their desk automatically, counted five heads and then continued on to our table, when suddenly, I froze. My head swivelled round on its own accord and involuntarily began counting again. "One, two, three, four… Five." I let out a huge whoosh of my breath as my heart started stuttering in overdrive, there, sitting as though he'd never been gone, looking as perfectly bored as the first time I'd seen him, sat Edward Cullen.

I glanced quickly back onto my table, as Jessica giggled lightly from my side. "Oh my gosh, Edward Cullen is looking at you!" I blanched, blushing heavily, I whispered, "he doesn't look angry, does he?"

Jessica looked at me as though I'd grown an extra head, "no silly, why?" I cringed as I saw a strange gleam in her eyes, almost as though she sensed gossip.

"No reason," I mumbled looking down onto the table, thankfully, at that moment, Tyler chose to grab Mike's chair, and soon enough, our table erupted into cheerful laughter as Mike tumbled, red faced onto the floor.

I wasn't sure, but at that moment, just as I glanced up, I thought I saw Edward Cullen staring at me. But when I turned to look again, he was staring just as resolutely blankly at the blank wall in front of him, with the same bored expression on his face. Then, Angela nudged me and I turned away.

As the bell rang, I sighed internally, I didn't want to go to biology and sit next to someone who didn't want to be around me. Angela asked me if anything was the matter, looking at the concern etched deep into her face, I smiled and shook my head, saying that I just felt a slight head cold coming on, she nodded sympathetically and walked into class. Squaring my shoulders, I walked resolutely forward and paused by the door, as I saw Edward Cullen sitting at my bench, I trembled slightly, but decided to ignore him, then I half stumbled towards our bench, expecting him to ignore me just as he did last week.

To my utmost surprise, after I'd opened my notebook, I heard a melodious voice from my side. "Hello," I turned around slowly, shocked to the core.

This was the first time I'd looked at him properly, and suddenly, I was too aware that we were sitting inches apart from each other, and that his eyes were a golden shade of brown, something within my mind vaguely registered that, but mostly, I went into shock from his incredible beauty. I guess he must've thought I was retarded or something because his next question was accompanied by a wry smile, "You're Bella? I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself last week, I'm Edward Cullen."

I jolted back to reality, not wanting him to think that I was stupid or anything, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "how did you know my name?" He stared at me puzzled, I blushed as he replied deliberately, "that is your name isn't it? I mean… the whole town's been talking about your arrival."

"Yea, but I'm pretty sure Charlie, I mean, my dad, introduced me as Isabella. That's what most people here knew me as." For a moment, this odd look passed across his face, but by the time I blinked, it was gone, so I left it up to my imagination. He simply smiled and said, "word gets around." I nodded and left it at that.

Seconds later, he asked, "so how are you enjoying the weather?" I almost snorted. In fact, I did.

"Weather? You're asking me about the weather?" I asked incredulously, he seemed amused by my reaction.

"Yea, I guess I am." He smiled, and the effect it had on me was insane. I felt my legs turn gelloid and my brain turned into mush. He cocked his head to the side as he waited for my reply, a small frown playing around his eyebrows.

"It's alright I guess," I replied shakily. "I don't really like the cold."

"So why did you move to the wettest place in the continental U.S then?"

I looked at him as he looked at me, he had this look of intense concentration on his face. I bit my lip, "My mother remarried."

"Ah." He replied. "You don't like him?"

"No!" I stuttered, surprised. "No! Phil's great. It's just… He plays minor league ball, so he moves around a lot, and my mum stayed with me for a while, but I knew what'd make her happy, so I decided to come here."

That unreadable expression flashed across his face again, but in another blink, it was gone. "But you don't like the cold?"

"No." I sighed, "anything cold and wet…" I shuddered, letting the sentence trail.

"So then why did you move here if it makes you unhappy?" I stared up at Edward Cullen incredulously, wasn't the answer obvious?

"It isn't about what makes me happy." Just then, Mr. Banner walked into class with a trolley full of Petri dishes.

EPOV

I was blown away by Bella Swan's answer. "It isn't about what makes me happy." As Mr. Banner walked into class, I mulled over her words and her incredulous expression at my question. For some inexplicable reason, I felt intrigued by this strange human whose blood sang to me, and whose mind was immune to my gift.

Moments later though, this intrigue was quickly quashed by the monster within fighting to be let out and suck her blood dry. Mr. Banner had told us that we would be separating the different levels of mitosis of the onion root cell, and as she leaned in to the microscope, I had to hold my breath as a waft of her scent came drifting towards me.

It was the longest period of my life, which was ironic. After the lesson ended, Mike Newton bounded over to our bench, cast me a dirty look as he tried to escort Bella to her next class. I stood up hurriedly and walked down the aisle towards the door. As I passed her, she got up, turned to look at me for a fraction of a second, and biting her bottom lip, she started walking indecisively towards the door. As I slipped into the corridor, I heard her whisper "Bye Edward" softly, as she turned towards the gym. Even though she'd said it when she thought I couldn't hear, it still made my heart soar.


	8. Shivers

**A/N: Hey guys! I know I haven't been uploading so frequently with this story and I'm really sorry!! It's just I was struck with inspiration elsewhere, aka my other story 'Air Dry' so I haven't really been inclined to update this one, plus I've been busy with school again, but I promise to upload ASAP!! (:**

**Disclaimer: once again, I do not own twilight. unfortunately. ):**

EPOV

I knew I couldn't stay away from her any longer. Every part of her made me want to cave. From her intoxicating scent, to her enigmatic personality, to the quietness of her mind.

I kept trying to tell myself that it was just because of the mental silence that she had. That it was the only reason pulling me to her, but it wasn't. The truth was that everything about Isabella Swan only pulled me in further, and I was drowning in everything that was just so her.

I couldn't keep away anymore, I didn't have the strength too.

Alice gave me a knowing look as she passed by my room. "Don't forget to bring oil, Edward," she thought as she continued down the corridor.

Oil? Why would I need oil?

I decided to ignore her odd, cryptic advice and tuned in instead to the soothing sounds of Chopin. The light was fading from the sky and Forks was thrown into a beautiful half darkness. Twilight.

The safest time of the day for us.

BPOV

Charlie and I sat in silence throughout dinner. He'd come to trust me in the kitchen, and that was nice. I cringed as I thought about how he'd managed to survive all those years alone and felt a little bit sad and guilty. It didn't help that the memories of my mother jumped out from every corner.

Like I said, nothing had changed in this house, and it hurt to know that my father was still nursing the pain that had been left behind when Renee had upped and left, and it hurt even more when I thought about how happy she was now.

But even though it hurt to think about my parents' relationship, it was better than thinking about _him_.

My mind had been replaying our conversation in school all day. It was weird that I was strangely happy that he'd noticed me, that he'd spoke to me. Maybe he really had been feeling unwell, he had said that he was sorry that he hadn't introduced himself after all.

In a daze, I realized that I'd finished my dinner and so had Charlie.

"So erm," Charlie cleared his throat a little awkwardly. "Do you need help cleaning up, kiddo?"

"Nah, thanks dad. You go watch the game." I replied, knowing that there was some game on that he'd wanted to watch badly. He grinned and got up and then, stiffly, almost as an afterthought, bent down and kissed the top of my head.

It was weird. But it felt nice. Like a real fatherly gesture. We both blushed and turned away. "Thanks Bells," he added gruffly as he walked into the living room.

I started cleaning the dishes, letting the sounds of the games fade into a pleasant background buzz and my thoughts drifted back to Edward Cullen again.

There was something really odd about everything. And his eyes. They were this warm, buttery scotch color today, when they had been pitch black before. My back tensed and I felt chilled, like there was something huge that was missing.

After a while though, I realized that I was really stiff and really tired. I let out an involuntary yawn.

"I'm going to bed, dad!" I called out as I walked up the stairs. I heard him grunt an OK in response and smiling affectionately to myself, I grabbed my bag of toiletries and my ratty t-shirt and track pants and walked into the bathroom to take a shower.

As the warm water gushed down in rivulets, soothing my tensed muscles, my mind wandered back to Edward Cullen again.

I groaned in frustration.

Why did everything always lead up to him?

Before, when he'd been avoiding me, when he'd been away, I'd been preoccupied by him too, by his unexpected rudeness, and now, when he was civil to me, I found myself overanalyzing the situation, rethinking every word, every action, replaying the memory over and over again, looking for something.

What the hell is wrong with me?!

I mechanically massaged the strawberry scented shampoo through my hair. Tonight, not even the soothing smells of my favorite bath scent was going to distract me from the perfect, beautiful, _odd_ Edward Cullen.

As I got into bed that night, my thoughts were still about Edward Cullen, but just as my mind began to make an important connection, sleep claimed me, and I was pulled into the fantasy land of my memories. The psychedelic world of shopping malls and beautiful angels.

_I was a little girl sobbing on the floor again. And the bronze haired angel was crouching in front of me, asking me if I was alright. _

_"Bella," He coos into my ear and my sobs subside. The beautiful angel, weaving through the throng of shoppers, holding me up high, away from them, until he hands me back to my mother; safe. _

_The beautiful bronze haired stranger that I'd come to think of as my guardian angel._

_Edward._

EPOV

I grimaced to myself as the window slid open squeakily. Now, I knew why Alice had advised me to bring oil. I paused for a moment, but the calm, even breathing continued. I climbed in stealthily through the window, breathing in the intoxicating scent of Bella Swan.

The monster within clawed again, but as I looked at her sleeping form, the aching thirst died. There was something intriguing about her, and I wanted to protect her so badly. My fingers brushed the pile of books lying scattered on her desk delicately. She had many well-worn books, mostly classics. Jane Austen. I almost snorted, but my body tensed with grudging appreciation. This girl was definitely different.

Bella tossed in her sleep and began sobbing, I tensed again, for a completely different reason this time. She was crying out desperately, her arms clenched around her stomach in fear. I found myself wanting to go to her, to take her up in my arms and comfort her, to just soothe her.

Suddenly though, she said my name, clear as day, her voice, ringing like bells, "Edward."

I froze, completely still.

Was she awake? Her eyes started to flutter open, I took one look at her beautiful, pale form and I jumped out her window.

That was a really close call. I could just imagine what I would tell her if she had awoken. I felt dirty, perverted.

There was about a billion things wrong with what I was doing, but even as I thought that, I was already making plans for tomorrow night, already setting my a mental reminder to bring the oil for the window tomorrow night.

BPOV

Edward.

I jolted awake, his name still on my lips. The beautiful stranger in the mall had suddenly taken the shape of Edward.

That was the first night I'd dreamt of Edward Cullen.

I wondered briefly if it was because my conscious mind had been so preoccupied with him before I shuddered. I looked over at my window and noticed that it was open, which was weird, because I never opened that window. Never.

Getting up, I shivered again as the cold air whipped through my room. I pulled it shut and it squeaked loudly. Maybe Charlie had thought that I would be warm. I shivered again though, and crawled back under the covers.

I shivered again before sleep claimed me.

When I woke up again, all my muscles were tensed and my head was heavy and painful. My eyes were watery and swollen and my nose blocked and snotty. I coughed and my chest ached. Everything ached.

"Dad!" I called out weakly, hoping that he was running late today and hadn't left for work yet, but no such luck. I sighed and curled into a tighter ball in my bed, frozen.

**A/N: AND THE PLOT THICKENS! DUNDUNDUNDUNNNN. Will Edward Cullen come over and take care of her?! Will he finally realize that she was the little girl he 'saved' all those years back? Will Bella realize what her subconscious mind already has? ALL VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS!**

**OK, I just want to say that the next time I upload this will probably be next week, but if you leave reviews, I promise to make it an extra long, extra happy, extra AMAZING chapter. Srz. There may be serious B/E action the next time round. I WILL MAKE IT UP TO YOU! (: In the meantime, PLEASE continue holding out for this story. (:**


	9. AN: SORRY!

Hey guys! I'm so sorry I haven't been updating this story so much. Yea, yea, I know it's been ages. But I really can't seem to find the enthusiasm to write much these days. I'm getting really caught up in IB- the school year's coming to a close soon in a couple more months, and along with that, my Junior year, so I've gotta be really focused cause I've just found out that I need to apply for college by November this year, so I'm freaking out majorly, as well as bumming out over the fact that I have to take SATs as well if I want to get into UCLA.

Cue the dramatic sighs.

So I know I'm like spewing out my life story here at the moment, and whining about it too, which I majorly detest, but anyway, I'm really sorry you guys. I'll update as soon as I finally get off my lazy ass to write a new chapter! In the meantime, I've been updating some chapters on my mac, just not uploading them on FF. I've been thinking that instead of uploading chapter by chapter, I'd actually finish a story first before uploading it so you guys don't have to wait so much/long.

So yea, ultimately, this means that All I Ever Wanted and Back Home are on hiatus indefinitely, sorry you guys! And thanks so much for all the support! (:

Oh oh guys! But since I feel bad, here's a little sumt'n sumt'n.  
So recently, I was sleeping over at my friend's house and we were watching the Twilight DVD (YES HA! I HAVE IT) and we were on to the scene where Edward is sparkling and then he says "I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell. As if I would need any of that. As if you could outrun me. As if you could fight me off. I'm designed to kill."

So then my friend's brother immediately starts snorting and laughing like crazy, and he went "Oh yea. Oh my god. I'm the world's most dangerous predator! Let me kill you with my sparkling disco-ball-light-ness. Oh look at me! Be blinded by my sparkling-ness! I AM THE DREADED DISCO BALL! FEAR ME! RUN AWAY! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU BY SPARKLING AND DAZZLING YOU TILL YOU'RE BLIND AND TRIP AND FALL OVER THE HILL.. muahahahahahaha. FEAR ME CAUSE I'M SPARKLING AND PRETTY."

I died laughing. XD


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